Willie “Popeye” Ingram

Decatur, Alabama native William Ingram (b.circa  1930) learned at the age of four that he had a unique gift: the ability to thrust his eyeballs up to an inch outside of their sockets. He joined up with Walter L. Wanous & Sons, an Alabama based sideshow that toured with carnivals throughout the country. People who saw him perform live reportedly never forgot the experience. His unique skill garnered him attention in Ripley’s Believe It or Not, the Weekly World News, and a role in the 1974 film The Freakmaker a.k.a.Mutations with Donald Pleasance.

To learn  about the history of vaudeville, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold.

And don’t missmy new bookChain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, just released by Bear Manor Media, also available from amazon.com etc etc etc